1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of network computer systems and, more particularly, to a mechanism for disabling content partially streamed to a client.
2. Description of the Related Art
The client/server relationship is widespread in modem networked computing, particularly in the domain of the Internet and World Wide Web. For example, a client may contact a server via a network and request a service or a piece of information. A web server may provide copies of various web pages to a plurality of clients. More specifically, a client may contact the web server with the URL of a specific web page, which may then be sent to the client and displayed for the user.
As described above, web servers primarily retrieve files from one or more data sources and transmit the information therein over a network. Alternatively or additionally, servers may execute significantly more computation in response to a client request. For example, a website may use a database in tandem with common gateway interface (CGI) scripts to provide a more dynamic content retrieval system. In such an example, a client may request information related to a certain topic from the server. The server may then execute a search for the topic on an internal database, and dynamically assemble a web page with the desired content before returning the results to the client. Additional computation may be executed on the server when handling other web-based applications, such as electronic commerce.
Because such extra computation or large content sizes may increase the turnaround time for the server responding to a client's request, the server may partially stream content, including hyperlinks, to a client while continuing to process the request. As additional content is assembled, the server may continue streaming content until the request has been fully satisfied.
However, after such content is sent to the client, it cannot typically be recalled. This may pose a problem if the server encounters any difficulties in its continuing calculations or request processing after sending partial content to the client. For example, the server may detect a security violation in further processing that makes it necessary to deny the client access to hyperlinks that have already been sent. Alternatively, the server may receive an error message or time out from a resource necessary to complete the client request, such as a database. In this scenario, the entire session may rendered invalid.